William Bolton Gage, 67

Lake Geneva cruise line operator, boat restorer

September 19, 2003|By Sufiya Abdur-Rahman, Tribune staff reporter.

When William Bolton Gage and his father took over a Lake Geneva, Wis., marine corporation in 1958, there were just 10 customers with deteriorating or sinking boats. Rebuilding the boats turned out to be more than just a job for Mr. Gage--the task became his passion.

And Lake Geneva, where many vacationing Chicagoans could sail on Mr. Gage's cruise line, became his life.

"They practically called him Mr. Lake Geneva," said his son, Bill Jr.

Mr. Gage, 67, chairman and former president of Gage Marine Corp. and its subsidiary, Lake Geneva Cruise Line, which began in 1873, died of pneumonia in his Williams Bay, Wis., home Wednesday, Sept. 17.

During the time Mr. Gage was president--since 1967--he was able to expand the marina to nearly 1,000 customers with fiberglass boats and antique wooden boats, his specialty.

"He had a very great love for antique boats and steam boats. His great pride and joy was making our boats spectacular," said Harold Friestad, vice president and general manager of Lake Geneva Cruise Line.

Mr. Gage was raised in Hinsdale and received a bachelor's degree in economics and history from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1958, his son said.

Mr. Gage was a past chairman of the Chi Psi national fraternity and was part of a $2.5 million effort to restore a historic fraternity lodge in Madison, which led to him receiving the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation Award last year, said longtime friend and fraternity brother John Holcomb.

"He was very much admired by the young people today," Holcomb said. "He was a really good listener and related well to every age group."

Mr. Gage would often take friends on rides along Lake Geneva in one of his favorite boats, the Matriark, an 1899 wooden vessel that took about 10 years to restore, his son said. Not only would Mr. Gage restore the boats aesthetically, he changed one to a steam engine, he said.

"When I was a kid, he took me to England to try to find a steam engine to put into one of these boats," his son said, recalling the restoration of the Steam Yacht Louise. "The boat still runs."

Mr. Gage received awards from Geneva Lake Conservancy Inc. and from the Geneva Lake Area Chamber of Commerce for lifetime achievement.

His most recent project was trying to raise money to create the Lake Geneva Historical Society's maritime museum, his son said.

Friends said perhaps Mr. Gage would be missed most for his laugh.

"He'd be sitting in his office and all of a sudden you'd hear this great laugh coming out," Friestad said.

Longtime friend Wade Fetzer said, "All we needed to do was to get Bill to laugh and then everybody would feel better."

In addition to his son, Mr. Gage is survived by his wife, Mary Burns Gage, and two grandchildren.

Visitation will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday in Haase-Derrick-Lockwood Funeral Home, 800 Park Drive, Lake Geneva. Mass will be said at 11:30 a.m. Monday in St. Benedict Catholic Church, 137 Dewey Ave., Fontana, Wis.